Converging (Batfam vs Ironfam)
by Alice Crow
Summary: Tony Stark is a risk to the universe. He's unable to pass on due to the Infinity Stones, yet he can't stay. What's a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist to do? Travel to a different universe with six forcibly taken tagalongs of course! Staring Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Harley Keener, Vision, Nebula, Riri Williams, and Morgan Stark.
1. Chapter 1

Tony Stark fully expected to be dead, which made waking up in a barren orange wasteland all the more confusing. He blinked in uncertainty as he looked around. Suddenly there was a tap on his shoulder.

"Mr. Stark," Dr. Strange nodded, his hand outstretched. He seemed wildly out of place in the vast orange background. Tony briefly wondered if they were both dead and this was some bizarre form of afterlife.

"Oh hey Harry Potter, any chance you could tell me what the hell is going on?" Tony asked, his tone polite and conversational. Stephen snorted before letting his hand fall to his side.

"I'm not sure you fully understand what did Tony Stark. Frankly speaking, your an impossibility that baffles me at every turn. You should never have been successfully been able to use the Infinity Stones yet here we are. You used all six of the infinity stones and then died almost immediately afterwards. By doing this you supercharged your soul, leaving you in a rather strange state of limbo. You are unable to pass on without letting out the energy that was absorbed into your soul, yet you can't do that unless you are living. We can't bring you back to life in this universe for the very balance of the world would be at risk, yet we can't leave you as you are for you being here at all is a risk regardless. Either way, you have to go," Stephen finished with a sigh. He looked so tired, as though the very weight of the world weighed him down.

"So what's gonna happen here doc? You say bibbity bobbity boo and I disappear?" a self-deprecating smile sat upon his lips. Stephen rolled his eyes.

"I hope you realize that that's not how magic works? Besides if you had listened more closely to my wording then you would have realized I said _this_ universe," Tony blinked in surprise as Stephen smiled smugly.

I really hope you're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting" Tony didn't know much about dimensional travel but even he knew that this seemed like a horrible idea.

"Also, didn't you say my presence was a risk to this reality? Wouldn't it be a risk to any other universe I go into as well? Not to mention that if I have the energy of the infinity stones in me won't it be dangerous if that energy leaves the universe it came from?" Tony questioned.

"Your presence wouldn't be a risk to an alternate universe as long as it's different enough from the universe you originally come from. Also, the energy you hold will mostly be used up when you travel to another universe with the six other people"

"Whoa, there fairy godmother. Since when are we bringing other people into this? And why six?" for every answer given it felt like a thousand more questions came up.

"Look Stark, I have calculated for almost every possibility and you need six other people to come with you if you don't want to accidentally destroy the world"

"...who's coming with me?" Tony asked, knowing full well that he has no choice in this if the world at large is at risk. Stephen flashes a look of gratitude to Tony before continuing on.

"Vision," Tony nodded, "Nebula" Tony nodded again, "Riri Williams," Tony looked a little confused but nodded anyway, "Harley Keener" Tony's eyes flashed in anger.

"I'm sorry but did you just suggest that I should bring in a 14-year-old?" Tony practically screeched.

"Riri Williams is only 15 and you didn't seem to have a problem with her" Stephen stated, his eyebrows raised.

"Are you telling me I'm bringing more than one child with me?!" somehow his voice only got louder.

"Vision is technically younger than both" Stephen argued. He didn't believe much of what he was saying but he needed to get Stark to agree.

"That's different and you know it!"

"Look Stark I get it but they need to come with you," Stephen says tone tired.

"Why?!" and wasn't that the question of the hour Stephen thought to himself.

"Because they are the ones most likely able to survive and adapt. They also have the least obligations to this world. If you brought Captain America with you of something then you would most likely die from his inability to change. If you brought Iron Patriot then who would be the new Iron Man? If you brought me then who would be the new Sorcerer Supreme? If you brought Black Panther then who would rule his country? His younger sister that's happier free of the responsibilities of a ruler? I've gone through the entire list of candidates and these are the smartest ones that are least likely to die should they enter a new world"

"That doesn't make it right! These kids have a right to be with their friends and families, not forced to never see they're loved once again!"

"Goddamnit Tony, I've seen their future and it's not pretty! At least this way they'll be spared from a life of hurt and not end up dying too young!" Stephen breathed harshly before rubbing his face with his hands.

"Who else?" Tony asked, exhaustion suddenly catching up.

"Excuse me?" Stephen asks.

"Who else is on the list? We've only gone through four people," Tony knows they'll be at this for hours if they don't just get on with it.

"Peter Parker" Tony tightens his fists in an effort not to deck the wizard.

"And Morgan Stark" and suddenly the next 20 minutes are spent in a very one-sided yelling match.

"She's five years old you bastard!" Stephen simply weathers the storm.

"She has a loving mother that needs her after everything she's gone through!"

"She's going to die if she comes with me!"

"How do we know that her body will be able to handle the strain that traveling dimensions causes!" and so on and so forth.

When the questions/yelling finally came to a slow halt Stephen thanked every deity he knew. Ironic considering he was an Atheist, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"If you're done now? Mrs. Pepper Potts is destined to die in three years, I thought you would rather have your child living with one living parent rather than none" Tony shrinks back.

"Pepper's gonna die?" his voice was small, hesitant.

"She and your daughter" Tony sucked in his breath at that confession. Stephen looked apologetic but firm.

"I told you, everything has been accounted for," Stephen says.

"What about Peter's aunt? Nebula's sister? Harley's mom and sister? Williams's family? God, even Vision and his thing with Wanda," Stephen pinches the bridge of his nose. He understands Stark's concern, really he does. But that doesn't mean that he isn't tired from this conversation, especially since he's had it with himself almost a hundred times. Tony needs these people to come with him. If they choose other people then Tony Stark was destined to die not even a month after arriving at his destination.

Stephen respected Tony, which was why he wanted Tony to survive, to thrive. He wanted Tony Stark to _live_.

"Peter's aunt dies of cancer, Nebula's sister dies in combat, Harley's family abandons him, Williams's family dies in an earthquake, and Vision and Wanda don't work out," Stephen lists out matter a factly.

"Tony I get it, your worried and scared. But it's better if they go with you then stay here and end up either a, dying, or b, living the rest of their life in misery" at this point Stephen was practically pleading.

Tony ran a hand through his hair, took a deep breath, and promptly dicided fuck it. Six innocent people's lives for the rest of the universe? Steve wouldn't have hesitated. (He ignores the part of him that warms at the thought of having Peter, Harley, and Morgan with him)

"Alright Aladin, take me to a whole new world," Tony snarked. Stephen simply smiled, he then opened the palm of his hand and a bright blue light escaped.

And then there was darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

There was a groan. Scratch that there were many groans. Uhhh, this would be the last time he would ever drink that much alcohol. Not that he had thought it would affect him after the first few times showed him that his metabolism was too fast to allow him to get drunk.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a naked boy and a naked girl lying right next to him. Fuck, did he get involved in an orgy? Not the strangest thing to happen to him but still pretty fucking weird. He then observed his surroundings and saw that he was in an abandoned warehouse. He felt his eyebrows go up. Was this some sort of sex cult? Did he join a sex cult? Then he saw a blue woman that looked surprisingly familiar and someone he was sure was Vision.

Did he have sex with an alien and a fucking android?

Wait a fucking second minute, was that Mr. Stark? (Peter ignores how his chest tightens) Peter starts to hyperventilate. Did I have sex with an alien, android, two teens, and a Mr. Stark clone? He thinks with slight hysteria.

Was this a weird case of daddy issues? How fucking drunk did he have to be to pull that out of his subconscious?

Holy shit, he realizes with alarm, he had lost his virginity. He had lost his virginity and doesn't even remember it! Who had he lost it to?!

He suddenly looks around more closely, trying desperately to remember last night.

Then he sees a five-year-old girl.

He feels an overwhelming relief crash into him. He must have been misunderstanding the situation. It doesn't matter how drunk he was, if he saw a little girl then he wouldn't have done the dirty. He nods to himself.

Then, what was he doing here naked with a bunch of other naked people? Had they been mugged? Why were all in an abandoned warehouse?

A groan interrupts his internal investigation. The clone of Mr. Stark gets up. He looks around before he starts to curse. He starts in English before moving on to Italian. Peter's eyebrows shoot up at the creativity shown.

He makes a mental note to write some of them down for future reference.

The clone then looks at him before sighing. He mumbled something that sounds suspiciously like 'dammit I thought it was a fever dream'. This gets Peter excited. Maybe the clone knew what happened!

"I'm sorry to disturb you sir, but could you tell me what happened?" Peter decides to ignore the frankly disturbing resemblance the man has to Mr. Stark.

"Can you on some clothes please?" the man practically pleads. Peter feels blood rush to his face as he remembers his state of undress.

"It's not like your wearing clothes," Peter points out. The clone looks down and starts to curse again.

"Look whatever, anyway, I'm going to ignore the lack of clothes and just start to explain everything," and so the clone (Mr. Stark apparently) starts to describe the series of events that lead them all here.

Peter feels his heart tighten at the thought of never seeing May again, of never seeing Ned, or MJ, or even fucking Flash. Gone, all gone.

"Tell me something only Mr. Stark would know," he demands, hoping desperately that Mr. Stark was alive but also that he wasn't because the repercussions for it would be awful.

"Your last words to be before you were snapped was 'I'm sorry'" Mr. Stark says with sorrow. Peter has the urge to hug him, then he remembers how their both naked and has to restrain himself from full-on cringing in disgust. Oh my god, he realizes with slight horror, Mr. Stark is butt naked. That's like seeing one of your parents naked.

"Okay, I believe you," Peter says with an edge of hysteria.

"As do I Sir," a voice from behind them interrupts. They both turn around and see Vision wide awake. Mr. Stark looks to be a second away from having a heart attack.

"I have already scanned you and have concluded that you are either a clone or the real Tony Stark. Seeing as how the cloning technology needed for such an endeavor has yet to be perfected it is most probable that you are the original Tony Stark" Vision says, explaining his reasoning in deciding to trust the person that was almost everyone saw die.

"Stranger things have happened" another voice rasps. Peter sees Nebula get up from where she was laying.

"For god's sake can you guys please stop just waking up randomly," Mr. Stark asks, handheld against his chest as he tries to even out his breathing.

"Also, why are none of you more angry at me? I'm the reason that you're all stuck here in the first place," Mr. Stark looks so confused that it takes all Peter has not to burrito him in blankets.

"From what I heard you had little control over the situation. I- I also am away that my relationship with my sister would have deteriorated regardless of the situation. It was never meant to last" Nebula says, her slightly robotic voice conveying sorrow at the lost opportunities.

Huh, would you look at that? Another person to burrito with love.

"I am aware that comforting is universally needed in most situations when the beings involved have a high enough emotional intelligence, but I am afraid we must cut this short in order to properly assess the situation," Vision says before Peter can try to comfort Nebula. Nebula bares her teeth and hisses.

"I do not require comforting android, though you are correct in the necessity to understand the new environment we are," Nebula nodded to Vision.

"Vision, I need you to do two things. One, steal all seven of us clothes, and two, grab me a laptop, not del. Also, don't get caught" Tony says.

Vision nodes before phasing through the wall. Peter restrains from mentioning how stealing was wrong. He's naked, cold, and humiliated. He's honestly at the end of his rope. As they wait, Nebula and Tony talk in a hushed tone while Peter looks around in more detail. The little girl he now recognized as Morgan slept on with only slight discomfort showing on her face. He feels his heart go out to her. She's never going to see her mom again.

Like he's never going to see May again. God, May. He feels his eyes start to get wet. He blinks away the tears and tries to focus on something else instead. His eyes wander before landing on the boy and girl he had been laying next to.

He doesn't recognize the girl but he now remembers seeing the boy at Mr. Stark's funeral. They must have been close if he had been invited.

He hears a whine from Mogan before she goes back to sleep. He picks her up and carries her to Mr. Stark.

"She seemed uncomfortable on the floor," Peter says with a shrug. Mr. Stark smiles in thanks before taking Morgan into his arms. He hums softly as he shifts her in his arms. Nebula's shoulders untense slightly at the sound. A few minutes go by where the only sound that fills the silence is the sound of humming.

Vision phases back through the wall, a pile of clothes in his arms, he then distributes who gets what. Nebula frowns at the drag the clothes cause but puts them on anyway. Nebula was in charge of putting clothes on the girl since no one else felt comfortable with doing it. She rolls her eyes and called them pussies. Peter puts clothes on the boy who he learns is named Harley.

"So the universe we're in is pretty similar to our original world. Main difference? A different set of heroes. Also, they have cities that we don't. Thankfully New York has been left untouched. Unfortunately, no one seems to give a shit about the supervillains in New York so they run around here like rats" Tony frowns. Peter's tempted to frown, what kind of superhero leaves suffering alone when they can change it?

"I guess that's a bit harsh considering they do help out when mass genocide is about to occur but that's about it," Tony says with a sigh.

"Something that I found rather fascinating about these heroes was the system they used to save the maximum amount of people. Unlike the Avengers that only come out for world-ending threats and hydra, the heroes of this world operated like Spiderman in a way. Most of them have specific cities that they protect and every one of them had secret identities. In fact, they only band together should a world-ending calamity occur. The closest I could find to the avengers was the Justice League" Vision said. Peter feels his face redden at the comparison.

"Not only that but there are far more superhumans in this world than in our last" Nebula adds as she looks at the laptop from behind Mr. Stark.

"As much as it physically pains me to cut the conversation short we really need to figure out our money issues as well as our new identities. Like are there any doubles of ourselves?" Peter asks. Mr. Stark types in each of their names.

"No. If there are any doubles then they don't go by our names. Also, I can just make us all new identities in an hour tops," Mr. Stark says, waving off the concern.

"How about we solve the identity and money issues at the same time by making yourself the nephew of a rich uncle that's recently died? And we can all be your adopted children" Peter jokes. He expects an eye-roll and a scoff. Not total seriousness from the three adults in front of him.

"That might actually work" Vision mumbles.

"I could make an 'accident' happen to the paper versions so that the only thing available is the digital," Nebula offers.

"You know that might work. Good job Pete, you've just come up with a solution to most of our problems" Mr. Stark says with a proud smile as Peter stares in horror.

Meanwhile inside of Peter's mind is total chaos as he tries to comprehend the fact that the only adults around are these three dumbasses.

"We're all so screwed" Peter whispers to himself.

"Did you say something?" Mr. Stark asks, looking up from his laptop.

"No," Peter says a little too quickly.


	3. Chapter 3

Peter quickly concludes that he is technically the third oldest person here. He then comes to the terrifying realization that he is also the sanest and most responsible. As such, Peter decides that he will have to step up as primary caretaker and protector of the younger children currently in Mr. Stark's care.

Not that he thought Mr. Stark was irresponsible or incapable of taking care of kids (seeing as he was an actual father), but well, there were six people that Mr. Stark needed to keep an eye on, four of which were younger than eighteen.

Wait no, Vision was technically also younger than eighteen. Peter winced in sympathy. Yeah, there was no way he could leave Mr. Stark to deal with all that. That would just be cruel.

Also, Peter had the most experience with taking care of those younger than him since he had spent six days a week babysitting various neighbors children since he was ten.

Then Spider-Man had become a thing and he had to cut back drastically.

Still, the point stands, he was the one most qualified. Mr. Stark could take care of their financial issues, Vision and Nebula could scope out this new world (one virtually and one physically), and he would stay here with the kids. Vision and Nebula had nodded at the sound logic while Mr. Stark gaped. He then narrowed his eyes in distrust.

"Who are you and what have you done with Peter?" Which was just rude. Everyone in Queens knew that children always came first to Spider-Man. There was a fire? You better bet your ass Spider-Man was saving the kids first and everyone else second. There was a robbery? You know Spidey's gonna protect the kids first. Someone pointing a gun at a child? Run, run as far as you can cause the beatdown that's about to go down will give sympathy pains for the asshole that fucking deserves it.

Literally everyone in Queens knew that children were off limits. So it kind of stung that Mr. Stark thought he would leave these kids to fend for themselves in this strange new world for an adrenaline rush that he can get later.

"Ye of little faith" he says jokingly instead. Cause repressing your feelings with humor was the healthiest coping method and no one could convince Peter otherwise. It worked with Uncle Ben, his parents, and Skip. Honestly Peter didn't understand why more people didn't use it.

MJ used to say it was because he was emotionally stupid while Ned look at him in concern and worry.

God did he miss them.

A small moan interrupted his pity party. The blond boy was finally getting up. Nice.

"Hi, I'm Peter, you must be Harley," Peter said. Harley took a moment before realizing that he was in an unfamiliar area with a stranger that seemed to know his name. He quickly stood up and tried to make a run for it before catching sight of Mr. Stark. He seems to freeze and his breath starts to speed up.

"Tony?" Harley croaks out. Peter scrunches his nose at the overly familiar title. That's something their going to need to fix immediately. No child in his care would ever be anything less than overly polite.

Little miss Layla had learned and so would Harley.

Unless they were fighting or someone was being rude to them, then all rules about edicate went out the fucking window and Peter would be disappointed if they didn't lay down the most sarcastic, disrespectful, insulting shit that they could.

"Yeah Harls, it's me" Tony answers with a smile.

"How are you- How did you- I went to your funeral!" Harley shouts, suddenly enraged.

"How was it? Where there strippers? I'm going to be disappointed if there weren't any strippers," Mr. Stark tries to joke. It falls flat and only seems to make Harley more mad.

"Yeah, well most people don't have strippers at their funeral, no need to be a pussy about it" Harley hisses out.

"Language kiddo" Mr. Stark reprehends, trying once more to take control of the argument. Peter winces at the amount of accidental fuck ups his mentor can make in one conversation.

"Oh, you don't get to language me! You let me believe you were dead! I mourned you! I mourned the only father figure I had left and here he is making jokes about his funeral like everything is all fine and dandy!" Harley's screaming now.

"You don't get to come back and just expect everything to go back to normal! Expect me to welcome you back with open arms after the shitstorm of emotions you left me to deal with! Am I a toy to you?! Do you like fucking with my feeling?!" tears seemed like they were about to fall before Harley shuts down every emotion other then overwhelming fury.

"You don't get to just come back after everything is finally starting to feel okay again! You don't get to come back after making me cry for you!" Harley screeches, his breath starting to shortening after the long rant.

Peter feels an overwhelming amount of protective feelings start to make there way to the surface. He knows that he shouldn't try to comfort the boy, especially since Harley doesnt know him, but the uneven breathing and heart wrenching sight before him make the choice for him.

He kneels down in front of Harley and waits for him to meet Peter's eyes before he reaches up and cups his face. He wipes his cheek with his thumb, trying to ground him. He channels Spider-Man, who has dealt with countless hysterical children.

"Hey, hey Harley? Harley i'm going to need you to look at me. I need you to stop looking at the tin man and just focus on me. Can you do that?" Peter asks. Harley tilts his head, his gaze slightly confused, clouding over the anguish and rage for a moment.

"My names Peter and I need you to take a big breath for me. I know you can do it cause your not a kid. Your not a kid and I know that this sounds really stupid to you but I need you to do this for me," Peter pleads. Harley hesitates for a moment before nodding slightly.

"I need you to count to ten with me. I need you to count to ten and then match your breathing to every number we say. You think you can do that?" Peter asks. Harley looks at Peter like he's the biggest idiot he's ever met. But Harley's still trembling, he's still heaving, and Peter can't stop until Harley calms down enough to not fuel his anger with his misery. He can't stop until Harley starts to cry.

And so they count to ten, then backwards, then forwards again until Harley's breathing starts to slow. His adrenalin rush leaving him exhausted as he collapses into Peter's waiting arms. Tears finally leaving his eyes as he asks Peter why he left him. Why Tony left him.

Peter rubs his back and runs his fingers through Harley's hair. He says nonsensical words, hums old songs, and whispers words of comfort into Harley's hair.

He looks up and immediately finds Mr. Stark's eyes on them. His eyes guilty and nervous as his hands constantly moved.

Peter mouths that they will talk later and waits until Mr. Stark nods in agreement before he focuses all his attention back onto the boy in his arms. He waits until Harley's tuckered out before picking him up and putting him in the pile of yet to be used clothes that Vision had grabbed them.

He then turns around and walks right up to Mr. Stark, ready to get this show on the road.

AAaaAAaa AAaaAAaa AAaaAAaa

So somethings to clear up because I just noticed that I never mentioned them

Ages for the Ironfam:br /

Peter Parker- Spiderman (16)br /

Harley Keener- Iron Lad (14)br /

Riri Williams- Iron Heart (15)br /

Vision fake name Vistabr /

Morgan Stark- Rescue (5)br /

Nebula- Ms. Peale (27)

So I edited out Gwen and Harry from being in this story too early because I realized how much of a stupid idiot I had been. There was literally so much potential there and I didn't even realize it until recently. Gwen and Harry are now gonna be Peter's friends in this new world.

Comment down below for any ships you might want to see. I honestly have no idea what I'm going to do in the ship department other than Tim Drake x Peter Parker.


	4. Chapter 4

"Alright kid, hit me, what did I do wrong?" Tony asks. He needs to know what his mistake was in order to fix it. If he could even fix it, a voice whispered darkly into his mind. He shoved it back and looked at Peter.

"I fear a time when Morgan becomes a teenager" Peter says instead of answering. Which isn't helping dammit. Tony brings a hand down his face and takes a deep breath through his nose.

"Peter," his voice is unamused.

"Wow, look at you, you got the dad voice down pat" Peter congratulates sarcastic. Okay, so clearly Peter was angry at him too. What did he do wrong though? Was he angry at the same thing Harley was angry at? Was he angry because he fucked up with Harley? Was he just using Tony as an outlet for his emotions now that it had finally registered that he was never going to see his aunt again?

"Alright underoos, what's your problem?" Tony questioned. Peter looked at him before seeming to relax his shoulders. He lets out a puff of air before crossing his arms.

"Look, from what I can understand, and what he practically yelled, Harley sees you as some sort of father figure. A father figure that he thought was dead who suddenly came back to life. As far as he's aware you faked your death and let him mourn you, which is a very logical assumption. This means that he thinks and feels that you betrayed him. That's not even the kicker though, the thing that really makes this whole thing worse is the fact that you made a joke about your death. You may use humor as a way to deal with your hardships but that doesn't mean that everyone can understand you making light of your suffering doesn't mean that your making light of theirs too. The words "too soon" have never been more correct"

Tony raises his eyebrows at the unusual display of emotional intelligence. Huh. Anyway onto the points that the kid brought up. He winced a bit as he realized the lack of care he had used when handling Harley.

"You have any ideas that can help me get in his good graces again since you're being so unusual smart in the ways of feelings?" Tony asks jokingly.

"I-What do you mean by unusual?" Peter asks hesitantly.

"It's just that you're normally so dense when it comes to reading a room that I didn't think you had it in you" Tony answered. He could understand since he had the same problem when he was younger.

"Yeah. Okay. That's-" Peter takes a deep breath. "Harley just needs an apology and an explanation," he says.

"That's it?" Tony asks, his tone showing his disbelief.

"Just be serious. Don't joke about it, don't make light of it, and talk to him like you would an adult. He doesn't need you making him feel immature about having feelings that he's entitled to have" Tony feels slightly insulted at the insinuation that he would ever make Harley think something like that. Peter sees his offence and raises his hands in a placating gesture.

"I'm not saying that you would do it on purpose, but you have to admit that there is a very high chance that had I not said anything you would have done the things I said not to do," Tony considers this before nodding begrudgingly.

"Thanks Pete. You're a really good kid," Tony says smiling softly. He opens his mouth before closing it at a cough to his left, he jumped when he saw the only human female in the group awake and looking around awkwardly.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell is up with you people and your weird timing in waking up?" Tony asks his hands rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"I actually woke up at the same time that, Harley?" she looks at them for confirmation before continuing "Harley did" she finishes shrugging.

"Then why did you make it known only now?" Peter asks, his eyebrows scrunching.

"Well, it seemed like you guys were a bit busy and I didn't really want to disturb that, ya know?" she rolls backwards on the balls of her feet.

"Anyway, I have no idea where we are, what I'm doing here, or who most of the people here are but can I just say that it's an honor to meet you Dr. Stark. Your work on the- " The girl that Tony can only assume was Riri, gushed. Her face was flustered but her eyes were ecstatic as she when more in depth on more of his inventions, theories, and scientific discoveries.

Tony responded and the two proceeded to have a lovely conversation that left Tony grinning and Riri starstruck. As this went on Peter left to find Vision and Nebula.

Tony suddenly realized that he had another science baby that he needed to take care of.

AAaaAAaaAAaaAAaaAAaaAAaa

Sorry for the late chapter. I'd explain why but I doubt you want my excuses. Also I will be updating twice today as an apology because actions speak louder the words.


	5. Chapter 5

Peter leaves Mr. Stark and the girl on their own. He walks over to Ms. Nebula and Mr. Vision to see how far along they were on the "plan".

Mr. Vision was on the computer, a furrow in between where his eyebrows were supposed to be. Ms. Nebula was taking apart a gun and reassembling it. When she was done she brought it out in front of it and took aim. She didn't fire. Instead she brought it back down to her lap and started to take it apart and reassembling it again. Peter stood awkwardly near them, not wanting to disturb them but also not wanting to go back to Mr. Stark.

"What do you want?" Ms. Nebula asks, her voice breaking him out of his thoughts. Peter opens his mouth to ask how the "plan" was going.

"Where did you get a gun?" Peter blurts out instead. He feels his cheeks start to redden when Nebula raises her eyebrows at him.

"I stole it from a store two streets down" she replies. Peter starts to panic.

"What do you mean you stole it from a store? What if that store had security cameras? Now they might know what you look like!" Peter feels his breath start to shorten as bad scenario after bad scenario shove themselves to the forefront of his mind. Ms. Nebula interrupts his descent into madness with a snort. Peter turns to look at her with a confused stare.

"I'm not stupid. I know what I'm doing. Stop insulting me with your doubt when your own inexperience is larger than the planet you call home" Ms. Nebula says with a frown. Peter starts to reply before what Ms. Nebula had said registered in his head. She thought he was being rude. That definitely hadn't been his intention.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, I simply was trying to convey my worry. I know you can take care of yourself, I know you could break my spine and still have energy to take down an army. You being strong was never in question. I was just being irrational. I'm sorry for ever making you doubt my absolute belief in you ability to beat the shit out of anyone that ever gives you trouble," Peter says apologetically. Ms. Nebula looked at him for a moment, trying to gouge how honest he was being. When she was certain of his integrity she nodded in forgiveness, her lips twitching upwards slightly.

"Now that that's out of the way, I was gonna ask how the plan was going, but now I realize that there is so much about alien culture that I don't know and now I need to learn everything. If your willing of course," Peter asks shyly. When Ms. Nebula nods in consent Peter jumps up and down in excitement. He opens his mouth and throws question after question.

"How much more advanced is alien technology when being compared to earth's?" Peter asks.

"In most regards alien tech is far superior. The only things that can be seen on equal footing is almost everything that Stark makes and most tech from Wakanda. Besides that though alien tech is miles better" Ms. Nebula answers.

"What do most beings call earth?" Peter knows that aliens probably don't call Earth, Earth. How you may ask? Because Deutschland was called Germany by Americans when it wasn't called that by the deutsch (Germans). There were other examples but that one was really easy to remember.

"Terra" is the simple response from Ms. Nebula.

"How come most aliens look human like when it should be theoretically impossible for these many species to develop in the same way?" that question had always been on his mind when he first found out that Thor was an alien. The question had only increased in importance when he met other humanoid aliens. Two was possible if highly unlikely, but the fact that so many species looked like humans was so impossible that it was ridiculous.

"There are theories, but no one knows for sure. For instance, there's a theory that an ancient race spread itself out through the galaxy and then settled down. Over time they evolved into what we are now, this theory says that we all hold a common ancestor. Another theory is that humanoids are the highest level of evolution and so most intelligent life forms will reach a humanoid state."

"How do "Jump Points" work?" Peter asks after digesting the answer from his previous question.

"Jump Points work by creating wormholes and then traveling through them" Ms. Nebula's voice sounds disinterested, which Peter could to some extent understand seeing as this was all old news to her.

"But how?" because while she may have given a basic answer it wasn't the one he wanted.

"By using the The Universal Neural Teleportation Network" the what?

"What's that?" Peter finally asks when it's clear that Ms. Nebula that wasn't going to clarify.

"The system that makes the wormholes" she looks at him in confusion as though she can't understand how he still doesn't understand.

"Okay, but how do they make the wormholes?" Peter's not above begging at this point.

"I, I think that they stabilize already existing wormholes. Naturally made wormholes are constantly being made and then collapsing so I assume that they locate a naturally formed wormhole, expand the size, and then use energy from other dimensions to stabilize it," Peter looks on in confusion at the "other dimensions" part so Ms. Nebula explains further.

"Do you remember the wizard?" Peter nods "well, the way that he casts spells is by drawing energy from different dimensions, that's basically the same thing that The Universal Neural Teleportation Network is doing," Ms. Nebula finishes.

"Thank you so much. I know I was a little annoying," Peter blushes as he realizes how much of a nuisance he had been.

"It's fine. Continue with your questions," she says/demands. With permission granted Peter knows what questions he has to ask if he doesn't want Ned to somehow find a way into this world and just look at him in utter disappointment.

"Do you guys have lightsabers?" Peter looks up at Ms. Nebula in hope. She expresses her lack of knowledge on what a lightsaber was and after a brief summary she says no. The disappointment was palpable.

"What is the political state of space?"

"Chaos, just pure chaos. Long answer would be that when Thanos wiped out half of all life in the universe it created a large power vacuum because suddenly important figures were dead and they needed a way to keep everything together. That's not even mentioning how the working class was also far smaller. Honestly speaking some races completely died off. After five years the ones remaining had started to rebuild but suddenly everyone was back so that's a mess and a half to deal with. Short answer? Shit, everythings gone to shit" Ms. Nebula ends her mini rant with a tired sigh.

"What's the most common religion?" At this point Peter wishes that he had a pen and paper with him to write everything down.

"We don't really have a dominant religion," Ms. Nebula says with a shrug.

"I have located our new benefactor in this world," Mr. Vision stands abruptly. He stands up and walks towards where Mr. Stark was.

"Well Ms. Nebula, thank you for answering all my questions," Peter says brightly. Ms. Nebula hesitated only a moment before opening her mouth.

"You may call me only Nebula" Ms. Nebula says.

"Oh but I couldn't that seems much too disrespectful"

"If you don't I'll remove your kneecaps" she stops for a second "Painfully" she finishes slowly. Peter feels his eyes widen at the threat in fear and confusion.

"Yeah, okay, of course" Peter says, bobbing his head frantically. Ms. Nebula (there was no way he would stop thinking it) smiled faintly. She patted his head softly before going on to find the others.

AAaaAAaa AAaaAAaa AAaaAAaa

Okay, so I thought I should explain that while Peter may speak calmly and intelligently right now, that will not be the case when he gets more comfortable. Right now he's using his manners as a sort of defense mechanisms.

I am in no way, shape, or form a science person. If you are and something that I tried to explain was explained wrong or just horribly, then I am deeply sorry. If I'm wrong in any of these do not be afraid to correct me.

Also, here are my sources for the Q&A section.

SciFi Reasons for Humanoid Aliens by certifiably ingame, Will Alien Life Resemble Life on Earth? Harvard Biologist Jonathan Losos Explains by Big Think, wiki/Universal_Neural_Teleportation_Network, How-does-a-wormhole-get-created, . , wiki/Masters_of_the_Mystic_Arts,


	6. Chapter 6

Peter stared in utter bafflement at the sight before him. Were, were Harley and Nebula plotting world domination? Harley had just woken up again and the first thing he decided to do was strike up a conversation about how to take over the world?

"I'm just saying that if we free the slaves we will have their loyalty, and therefore devoted soldiers," Harley says confidently.

"While that may be true, to undertake such an uprising would require resources. Resources we do not have. That is why I propose that we blackmail a royal, kill the current ruler, and then put our puppet on the throne" Nebula argues back. The two continue on as Peter looks on in complete bewilderment. Riri (he now knew for sure that her name was Riri) slide up next to him.

"Are they still talking about that?" she asks in confusion.

"You mean that this has been going on for longer?" Peter had literally gone out for a breath of fresh air an hour ago. When he came back the sight before him awaited him. It had already been thirty minutes.

Riri nods absentmindedly as she tugs on the sleeves of her jacket. She looks up at him before looking down again. She opens her mouth before closing it again.

"Hey, do you think were ever going to see our families again?" Riri asks hesitantly.

"Probably not" Peter says distractedly. Then the words catch up to him and he realizes what he had just said to a literal child.

"Shit- fuck- sorry. Just- ignore what I said. I'm being stupid. Yes, of course you might see your family again. Now the question is if you should see them since the very fate of the world- actually ignore what I said. Shit, I am not helping, god I'm awful at this" Peter babbles.

"Okay..." Riri says slowly. She looks at Peter, then back down at her hands. She starts to play with her sleeve again. Peter curses himself internally.

"Do you want to look at this world's superheroes?" Peter asks in an attempt to distract her.

"What?" Riri looks up and Peter winces at his blunder. It's too late now though, he needs to go through with his suggestion.

"Come on, let's find the laptop and see what kind of super heroes there are," Peter says determandly. Riri just kind of goes along with him.

At one point Harley comes up next to them. It seems that Nebula had to go with the rest of the "adults" to cement their new place on this earth. Mr. Stark was already making plans for a new hologram device that would allow Vision and Nebula to blend in with the rest of the humans on this earth.

Peter finds the laptop and types in superheroes. The first thing that pops up is the "Justice League".

"Is this an alternate version of the Avengers?" Harley asks. Both him and Riri looks to Peter in question as though he has anymore of an idea then they do.

"Probably not. Mr. Stark already checked and there isn't anyone in this world that could be our alternate selves. I think it's more of a mirror reflection. See this "Superman" could be compared with Caption America on a purely surface level due to some similarities. But they're not the same person and besides a bit of resemblance aren't all that alike. Another example is "Batman" and Ironman. From what I can tell Batman doesn't have any powers and is only on the team because his brain more than makes up for it. Also his money. There is no way he doesn't have money," Peter finishes. Wow, he had started out bullshiting before realizing that he might actually have a point. Score for Parker.

"Thanks Peter" both Riri and Harley say together before going back to looking on the laptop.

"Hey look, I found a video of Batman!" Harley says excitedly. After proudly showing the other two his find, they all settle around the laptop. Once they're all comfortable, Harley clicks on the play button.

The video was gritty, the audio was bad, and it was all in black and white. Suddenly a figure wearing all black swoops in. He throws a man against a wall before picking him up again by his clothes.

"Tell me where the hostages are" he growls out. He says a few other things that are inaudible before the video ends abruptly leaving the three teens in various levels uneasy. That is, before Riri opens her mouth.

"Why does it sound like he gargled gravel?" Riri asked curiously. Peter snorted before attempting to calm himself.

"Because he's trying the new the new gravel diet. Side Effects may include huge muscles, toxic masculinity, and reckless stupidity under the guise of being smart and serious" Harley answers back in a deadpan. Peter gives up and just startes to fucking giggle at the absurdity. This makes the other two start to laugh as well.

When they can finally talk again without laughing they start to research more about these heroes. An hour goes by before they get bored and Harley starts to take apart the laptop. Peter doesn't have the heart to tell him to stop and Riri is already helping him. Eventually Peter gets curious and leans in to see if technology is different in this world then in their own.

By the time the "adults" are home they are grettet to the sight of all three children whispering excitedly over a disassembled laptop. Tony sighs before joining them, Nebula sits a few feet away but still looks over when they say something interesting, Vision leans up against a wall and looks out through the window.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony looked at the device in front of him. It looked like a circular pendant. It should allow Vision and Nebula to blend in better. It also helped that they were both humanoids so it could just be a simple hologram (well, simple for him).

"Nebula, Vision, come over here!" he called out. A few minutes later and they arrived before him. Nebula through the door, Vision through the wall.

"Put these on and you should be able to go out into the world without being accosted for your less than human looks," Vision puts it on without hesitation while Nebula waits until Vision's came into effect. He looked like a bald human. Once she saw that nothing dangerous had happened she put on hers as well.

"Why don't we have hair?" Nebula questions. From what she had gathered most humans had hair.

"The hologram can't make anything solid so it's best that it only affects what you already have rather than risk it with something that isn't there. My recommendation is to just wear a wig if it really bothers you," Tony says with a shrug. Nebula nods at his reasoning and goes back to observing her new look.

"When are we moving into our new home?" Vision asks. Nebula looks up immediately, her focus sharpening once again.

"Tomorrow. I need another day to smooth out any irregularities in our cover stories"

"Would you like my assistance?" Tony opens his mouth to deny but stops himself when he realizes that this could be his chance to bond with Vision.

"As a matter of fact, yes" Vision looks up in surprise, as though he had already gotten ready for rejection. Tony felt a twinge of regret for his past avoidance of the android.

Unfortunately, a large scream interrupted the future bonding.

"Mommy, daddy! Help, help!" a small high pitched voice screamed. Tony knew that small high pitched voice. He quickly ran to its direction and was met with the sight of Peter having his hands out in front of himself, murmuring soothingly, Harley making funny faces from behind him, and Riri holding Morgan gently.

Thankfully when Morgan saw Tony she calmed quickly. She wiggled slightly to get out of Riri's arms. Riri quickly got the idea and let go slowly to make sure that Morgan wouldn't fall as soon as she let go.

Morgan rushed to Tony's side, her tear-stained cheeks making Tony's chest drop. He scooped her up in his arms and rubbed circles into her back.

"What's wrong Maguna?" Morgan whispers her answer into his chest, leaving Tony none the wiser for what she had said.

"I'm gonna need you to speak louder than that baby," Tony waits worriedly for Morgan to answer, panic slowly rising with every second that he went unanswered. Was she hurt? Was the dimensional travel more harmful than he had thought? He had noticed that she had taken longer than all of them to wake up but he had assumed that it was because she was younger and her body needed longer to adjust. What if he was wrong and his own inaction caused her irreparable damage? He would never be able to forgive himself if something happened to his little girl.

"Mommy said you were gone" her soft voice broke him out of his panic driven spiral. She started to cry soon after the words left her mouth, her thin arms tightening around him.

It took 20 minutes before Morgan calmed down enough to stop crying. It took another 10 before she stopped hanging off him like a limpet. She eventually wandered off, Peter's and Riri's warm smile welcoming her in without expectation, though she made sure that Tony was always in her line of sight. Harley looked on from a bit farther away, mumbling about how Abby had been the only little girl that had been comfortable in his presence when Vision asked why he wasn't joining in with the rest of the children. He then got a highly offended look on his face when he realized that Visian had called him a child.

AaAaAa AaAaAa AaAaAa AaAaAa

I am so sorry


	8. Chapter 8

It had been two months since the "family" had arrived. And by family, Peter meant mismatched imbeciles that invented a new spectrum of stupid. For a bunch of geniuses, they were all idiots and Peter would stand by that statement until he fucking died. At first, he had been relieved that there were at least three adults around, then he realized that Vision was like five, Nebula was unaware of most social cues, and Mr. Stark lacked common sense. Suffice it to say that Peter had been picking up most of the slack. Since Mr. Stark was normally busy with making their alibis as airtight as possible, Peter was left to take care of the rest of the kids. Morgan was an absolute sweetheart that had more brain cells than anyone in the family. Riri had the second most amount of brain cells and she only took second place because of that one time where she encouraged Harley to test out the jetpack that they had made out of a toaster, a clock, and a washing machine. Harley was in third place only due to the fact that he said things that were legitimately intelligent every once in a while, he then, of course, threw away any intelligence out the window when he decided to not listen to his admittedly very limited common sense. Although let it not be said that he didn't have more common sense than Mr. Stark, because he absolutely did.

For instance, Mr. Stark thought it would be a good idea to go crime-fighting in a rush job suit that wasn't fit for a controlled environment let alone an alleyway full of thugs. Can Peter just repeat that a literary five-year-old was more mature than everyone currently in the "family"?

Ms. Nebula had fourth place only because she thought that Mr. Stark's ideas seem logical, otherwise, she'd be higher up on the list. Mr. Vision took fifth because while he was an artificial intelligence of the highest quality, he once told Riri that water wasn't wet. Ha, alliteration. No, Focus Parker!

Mr. Stark was in last place while Peter frequently moved up and down because he had one brain cell left and it was so tired.

So here sat Peter in his new room, writing down the rankings of his family's individual brainpower and processing ability, muttering all the while.

A knock disturbs him from his musings.

"Yes?" Peter asks. He sees the door creak open and Riri's head enters slightly. She looks around, only moving in further into the room when Peter nods his head to show his allowance. She smiles slightly and comes to sit next to him on the bed, she looks around the white walls and empty closet before meeting his questioning gaze.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you, it's just that the new house is a little too big for me to be on my own," she admits embarrassedly. Peter just nods in understanding, the room he had claimed for his own was bigger than the living room in his old apartment let alone his old room so he completely understood.

Riri brought her legs up to her chest and hugged them, she let her head drop onto her knees. Peter watched on for a moment before continuing where he left off, this time without talking out loud. After a few minutes, Riri looked up again.

"Can I ask you a question?" She looks so serious that Peter decides that saying she already had would probably be a bad idea. He nods instead.

"Why did you become Spiderman?" Peter startles a bit. That hadn't been what he had expected at all. He ponders what to say before deciding that she deserved the uncensored truth, a truth that he hasn't told anyone.

"When I first got my powers, I used them to make money. I was a poor kid that lived with my amazing aunt and uncle but that didn't stop me from wanting more. I wanted to be powerful, I wanted to be rich, and I wanted to be famous. My powers gave me all of that and more when they first appeared. I used to be bullied so I figured that it was only fair that I use the gift I was given to be granted the respect I so desperately craved. When I first got my powers I didn't become a hero, I became an asshole. Months went by and I only got worse, my ego started to hurt the people around me but I didn't care. All I cared about was me. It eventually came to the point where my uncle had to pull me aside to have a chat. On the day that we were supposed to talk, a robbery took place. I didn't try to stop it, after all, it wasn't any of my business right? So I walked away and didn't look back. When I reached home I saw a police car in front of my house, they told me that my uncle had been shot. In my rage, I left my mourning aunt on her own to hunt the bastard who did it. When I found him I realized that it was the same man I hadn't stopped. That man may have been the one to pull the trigger but I was the one who let him. My own inaction killed him. I didn't become a hero because it was the right thing to do, I became a hero because every day that I wake up is a day that Uncle Ben doesn't," Riri looks at him, her eyes wide. Peter wonders if she had expected him to tell her that he became a hero because it was the right thing to do.

"Us Parkers have a saying that I hadn't taken seriously until it had come and bit me in the ass. It's something that has tattoo itself into my mind, I think it may help you understand," he cleared his throat before continuing.

"With great power, there must also come great responsibility*" Riri looked at him for a moment before getting up and starting to pace.

"I don't understand though, what does that mean? What are you trying to tell me?" Peter raises his eyebrows in surprise before understanding strikes. Ah, that's why she's asking.

"When you can do the things I can, but don't, then when the bad things happen, they happen because of you*" Peter takes a second to observe her, wondering if what he said struck a chord. It's only because he was watching as intently as he was that he notices when her once conflicted face becomes resolute. She straightens her back determinedly before moving towards the door. Once her hand touches the nob she looks back and smiles widely at him. Peter stiffens in surprise and only comes out of his shock when the door closes behind her.

Peter had never seen Riri grin so openly before. Normally her smiles were small and secretive. Never had they been so out in the open.

Peter wonders if being behind a mask will help her or if it would ruin her. Peter had gone through both and refused to allow her to be destroyed. No, Peter would pull her out of the mask himself if he thought even for a moment that she was buckling under the weight. He felt a warmth that was usually connected to uncle Ben and aunt May.

He always did want a little sister.

AAaaAAaaAAaaAAaaAAaaAAaa

Firstly I would like to apologies for the really late update, secondly these *, are where actual quotes are used, thirdly you probably noticed that I used the original story of uncle Ben's death rather than any of the ones from the movies. The reason? I like selfish Peter that learns from his mistakes rather than selfless Peter that became a hero only because its the right thing to do. I like a Peter that's driven by his guilt and the morals he inherited only after uncle Ben's death. Both are cool but I just prefer this version.


	9. Chapter 9

A knock comes from her outside of her workshop. She quickly turns off her blow torch and tries to hide the evidence of what she had been doing. A few minutes and many curses later she finally yells that her guest could come in.

Harley slides in on a hoverboard, a smoothie in hand and sunglasses on his face. Riri squints at him in confusion before throwing in the towel at a lost cause. No one knew what was going on through that kid's mind and she doubted she would either. Harley lifts the sunglasses enough to observe the workshop, his eyes sharp and searching in a way that they rarely are, he slurps loudly all the while. Riri finally has enough, her anxiety scratching at her that he somehow knew, she clears her throat and looks at him pointedly. This does not deter Harley though, instead, he slurps louder and drops the sunglasses back onto his eyes. Riri takes this as the challenge that it is and lets him know that she accepts by nodding at him. She refuses to be the one to speak first. Instead of working on the suit like she desperately wanted to, she starts to sketch up a design for a new Stark phone.

Using the money that they had gained from their "inheritance" Tony set up a new company. It was still in its early stages but things were looking up. Riri felt kind of bad that they stole money from a dead man but she knew that if they didn't do it then they'd be out on the streets and/or dead. It was a fucked up situation but Tony had promised to give back the money to where it was rightfully supposed to go after they were financially secure enough. He didn't promise this until Peter threw his dreaded disappointed look though. Not that Riri could blame Tony for caving immediately, no one wanted that look directed at them, least of all for long periods.

10 minutes go by before the slurping stops. Riri looks up, wondering if this meant Harley had given up. Instead, Harley stands up, stretches, throws away his smoothie, and sits right back where he was. Riri growls softly as Harley grins cheekily at her. Two hours go by, neither saying a word to the other. Riri works on the phone while Harley watches. Riri's mind is a mess as she tries to piece together a reason for why Harley might be here that did not amount to 'he knows!'. It was a difficult job that commanded most of her brainpower. This left the phone to take much longer than it usually would as well as be lower quality.

"Riri, it's time for dinner!" calls Peter from outside her door. Both she and Harley jump at the unexpected interruption.

"What, no dinner for me?" Harley calls back, his voice cocky. Okay, so they could talk to others, just not each other. That made this game a hundred times easier than what she had originally thought. Peter peeks in at Harley's voice blinking in confusion before he grins widely.

"Harley! I've been looking all over for you. I thought for sure I'd need to sound the kidnapping alarm," Peter sounds like he's joking but Riri was 90% sure that he was only one step away from putting tracking devices directly into their bodies in order to know where all of them were at all times. Judging from Harley's pained expression he most likely came to the same conclusion.

Peter reaches over and ruffles both of their heads before grabbing them by the backs of their shirt and dragging them downstairs, his super strength and reflexes able to keep them from falling down the stairs. He safely deposits them into their chairs at the table. He then starts to set up the plates before asking Harley to bring down Tony and Nebula and Riri to bring down Morgan and Vision. Just as they are about to leave his voice catches their ears.

"And remember, you are allowed to use any means necessary as long as there's no property damage and you manage to get them to the table. Whoever acquires both of their targets first will get to choose lunch for tomorrow," Peter says without looking up from his task. Both Riri and Harley smile sinisterly. It didn't matter that they played this game every night, it didn't matter that they heard those rules so often that they started to hear them in their dreams, all that mattered was that it still lit a fire under their bellies and neither was going to lose if they could help it.

Both ran in opposite directions at full speed. Riri ran to Vision's room first as it was closest. She knocked in quick succession, bearly giving the poor android time to open the door. After a few seconds of insistent knocking that got progressively louder Vision finally opened the door.

"May I help you Riri?" Vision asked. This had been happening every day for the past few months but all he could feel was a tired sort of acceptance. He didn't understand the need for him to be present during meal times but had yet to be allowed to skip. The one time he had tried Harley had come at him with a metal pipe screaming obscenities.

"As a matter of fact yes. Please get ready for dinner" Riri smiles pleasantly. Vision knew he would be unable to resist but he refused to go down without a fight.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Riri,'' Vision answers back just as pleasantly. His expression is serene but Riri knows he's actually a little bitch that's making this harder than it has to be on purpose. He then shuts the door firmly in Riri's face.

Well, that just won't do. She starts to plan her method of attack when a sudden idea makes itself known. She can't break down the door but the vents are free game, right? She quickly goes to her room to grab her weapons for today.

On the other side of the manor, Harley is currently dealing with a very stubborn former millionaire.

"Come on, please? It'll only be an hour tops" he says with a whine, hands scratching at the closed door.

"That's a dirty lie and you know it" Tony yells from the other side. Harley's on his last leg, he's been doing this song and dance for 10 minutes already and he is so fucking tired of it. Why won't this stupid family just come down when Peter announces dinner, it's not like they'll be able to get out of it anyway. If Harley doesn't do it then Peter himself will. Anyway, time to think of a game plan, so property damage was a no go but the window was fine wasn't it? It was only the third floor, he'd be fine. Maybe.

Riri, on the other hand, has just entered the vents. It's dusty, dirty, and she's pretty sure that she saw a spider but she refuses to back down. She already decided that she was going through the vents so nothing was going to change her mind.

She sees something in the corner of her eye. She stills, breath coming out uneven as she slowly turns her head. There, right in front of her is a cockroach. Holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck. Ew ew ew. She's gonna die, she's gonna die, she's gonna die.

Riri's entire body is as stiff as a board. Her breathing was the only thing disturbing the moment of stillness. The cockroach skittles closer.

It is at that moment that Riri has to decide whether the mission is worth it. Is she about to allow herself to be touched and possibly infected by the devil made version of beetles, or is she going to throw away her mission to save herself? More importantly, is she about to let Harley win? As soon as that thought enters her mind she already knows her answer. Fuck no, she's not about to let the little shit choose tomorrow's dinner. Riri steels her nerves and starts to crawl forward. The cockroach does not move, it's beady little eyes daring her to come closer. She ignores it's warning and in retaliation it fucking flings itself at her. Riri screams, loudly.

Vision smiles serenely at the screeches of terror coming from what he assumes are the vents. He continues to read calmly.

Okay, so she had lost the cockroach and was only a few feet from being able to drop into Vision's room. She takes out a screwdriver and gets ready to drop in.

Harley has finally managed to scale the building. At one point he thought he heard a scream but that was probably his imagination. He makes it to the window and peers in. inside he sees Tony dancing wildly with a new version of his suit. When it dips him is when Harley decides that enough is enough. He takes out the web-shooters he stole from Peter's lab, and aims. It hits the suit and Harley knows he's screwed. The shriek of fury that follows him when he climbs back down only cements that fact.

Riri falls in. she would like to think that she was graceful, that she did an iconic superhero landing as she drops in from the vents. Unfortunately, she knows better. Vision barely raises an eyebrow at her from where he was sitting. Instead, he just goes back to his book, flipping to a new page, completely unconcerned at his intruder.

Riri seethes. She grinds her teeth together before calming herself. Can't let her mom's dental plan go to shit after all. She ignores the pain that comes with remembering her old world and instead focuses on her plan.

She throws her screwdriver at him like it was a knife and watches as he only turns his head slightly to the side in order to avoid it. The split second that he is distracted is all Riri needs to take out a second screwdriver and run at him with it. Vision is already out of the chair and flying by the time she gets close but Riri had expected that. Instead, she continues on and scoops up the first screwdriver, throwing the second when she turns around. Vision once again doges but that was exactly what Riri had wanted. The screwdriver hits the device behind him. As soon the device is smashed the sprinklers turn on and Riri pushes the button in her pocket. It deploys one of her droids and transmits a signal for the droid to follow. A few seconds are all it needs in order to reach its destination. It crashes through the door (thankfully not breaking it) and starts shooting at Vision. While Vision was preoccupied with the droid, Riri looks around his work area, the papers on his desk catch her eye and she immediately scoops them up.

"Surrender now or the papers get it," Riri says threateningly, signaling for the droid to stop. Vision looks at her and knows that the gig is up. He sighs distraughtly and moves past her towards the door.

Harley, on the other hand, was still running from Tony.

"Get back here you little shit!" Tony yells. Harley just runs faster, his thoughts already fixating on how to get Tony to the table. A terrible thought makes itself known. It's cruel, cunning, and everything Peter would do in this situation. He runs back towards the house, Tony hot on his tail. He runs through the doorway, down the hall, past the living room and right into the dining room. He runs a few more steps before turning around and shooting the webs directly onto his chest. Tony tilts slightly back, unbalanced by the force. He then uses the moment to pull Tony into a chair, not wasting a second before webbing him again, this time to the chair.

"Harley, I swear to god," Tony says threateningly, but Harley has already stopped paying attention. After all, he still has an assassin to catch.

Riri was on her knees, dignity forgotten in the face of the five-year-old girl before her.

"Please Morgan, foods important," she's begging, she knows she is, but what does it matter when it might be just what she needs in order to convince this little girl to listen to her.

Morgan sits on her throne (a beanbag) and pets her toy cat slowly. She stills to a stop. Her eyes are chilling.

"What will food bring me but a momentary release from hunger?" her squeaky voice questions.

"Without food, your work ethic will suffer. You'll make subpar inventions that could have been easily improved upon" Riri answers. Morgan looks at her consideringly before resuming her petting. It's then that Riri knows she's losing her.

"And Peter will be disappointed," it's a low blow, one she would never condone in normal circumstances. Unfortunately, it's what she needs to say in order to get her point across.

Morgan is out of her beanbag, toy cat flying before she knows it. She's already stomping her way out of the room by the time Riri stands up.

Harley, on the other hand, was pulling Nebula to the table by her hand. He was 100 dollars poorer but he knew that it was necessary.

Unfortunately, it would be for not, Riri won by two seconds.

She would choose lasagna for tomorrow's lunch.

The next day Riri is unable to work on her suit because Harley sits next to her, working on a droid.

And so a few days go by with neither talking to one another. Harley still goes to her workshop but he does nothing but play on his phone. Riri's patience is waning and her resolve is crumbling. She refuses to lose though. Even now the thought of losing to Harley is unacceptable. Thankfully, before she loses her will completely Peter decides enough is enough. Which leads to now, Peter sitting in front of them while they sit on the couch refusing to look at one another.


	10. Chapter 10

The cave was silent. It was uncomfortable and left an uneasy feeling in Bruce's gut. The cave should never be this quite. He casually scanned his surroundings, eyes never lingering too long. He was alone. It had been quite some time since the cave had been so empty, he didn't like it. Thankfully, before he could lose his mind, a familiar sound of laughter and talking filled his ears. He could finally allow himself to relax a bit at the sound.

"Excuse you! I could totally beat Spider-Man in an acrobatics contest" Dick protested loudly. Bruce huffs at the reminder of his current dilemma. The first superheroes of New York. They popped up only a month ago and were already making a splash.

The first to hit the scene was "Ironman," he was completely human. He was extremely good in combat, too good almost. Only a few days later came "Spider-man," he was a meta. While Ironman was a better fighter, Spider-man was a natural when it came to ground level superheroing. Then only two days later came "Vision" and "Ms. Peale," both dropped in at the same time. Vision was most certainly an android, though more human-like than most. Ms. Peale, on the other hand, gave him the most red flags. She moved like an assassin. This was troubling for many reasons, most of all that no one else in their group seemed to do so as well.

Bruce knew they were a group, the timeline in their debut proved it but their closeness and casual banter cemented it.

Bruce had spent hours studying them and trying to see if they were a threat, trying to see if they would fall at the first sign of darkness. Unfortunately, he was unsure. Ms. Peale had no doubt already been through hardship but it was unclear whether it made her stronger or closer to breaking. Vision was a machine, so unless his programming was on the unlawful side they were safe. Ironman was a textbook case narcissistic but something told him that there was more to this.

So far only Spider-man seemed to be genuinely good, though that could be his fondness for brightly colored children speaking. Nonetheless, he already had contingency plans for all of them should they prove that they were a danger.

"I don't know, his superpower literally makes him boneless. How are you gonna beat that?" Tim tries to reason. Dick was having none of that though.

"Still better," Dick says unreasonably. Tim just sighs, his thoughts already turning to a different aspect of Spider-man.

"He does have a better ass though," Tim says absentmindedly. Both Bruce and Dick choke slightly, their wheezing quickly turning into coughing. Bruce recovers quicker but is unable to say anything to his adopted son. Thankfully Dick is there to pick up the slack.

"Wow Timmy, what a way to come out," Dick says breathlessly. Tim looks up in confusion before his cheeks start to match the red of his uniform. He had been unaware that he had said that out loud.

"I can be straight and still admire the artwork that is Spider-man's ass" Tim tries to defend, cheeks growing hotter at the words that come out of his traitorous mouth.

"He's too old for you," Bruce finally says. Tim's squawk of betrayal is ignored as Bruce gets up and leaves the cave, determined to leave the conversation with it.

The "You know it's okay if you aren't straight" is just a distant backdrop that Bruce is happy to entrust to his eldest son.


	11. Chapter 11

"Alright, I have had enough. What is going on?" Peter's voice is firm, just daring them to refuse him his answers. Both look away in fake uncaring.

"I've no idea what you're talking about," Harley says, voice aloof. Peter takes a moment to watch them before sighing. At the sound both Harley and Riri lookup. Peter looks tired and halfway done with them in general.

"This is about the suit that Riri's been trying to make isn't it?" he phrases the question in a way that makes it seem like it's not a question at all. Rather it's an acknowledgment of something he already knew. Riri opens her mouth in shock while Harley giggles.

"How did you know?" Riri's voice is panicked and her breathing starts to pick up. Peter winces at his fuck up. He should have prepared her a bit more before dropping that bomb on her (not that he knew she would react that way).

"When you started asking me about heroics I sort of figured," Peter says softly. Harley looks at both of them before he settles back into the couch in a relaxed manner, his face smug as he regarded them.

"I'm also making a suit," Harley said, his entire body screaming the cat got the canary.

"Then why the fuck were you disrupting my building process!" Riri shouts. She quickly turns pale though when she realizes that she lost the competition. Harley's smirk only grew larger on the other hand. It disappears however when he opens his mouth to answer.

"Cuz you didn't tell me," he sounded genuinely betrayed by this fact and his face only cemented it further when they saw his lips press together tightly.

"Well, you didn't tell me either" Riri throws back. Peter watches in silence, already whirling with ideas and opportunities. He hides his smile behind his fist as he thinks about how he's going to stage this to Mr. Stark.

"But I was going to when I came into your workshop that first day! But what did I find? Nothing but betrayal," Harley hisses. It's honestly a bit overdramatic but Harley felt distressed that Riri would hide something like that from him when he had been fully willing to spill his guts. It was treachery.

"Like I was gonna bring in a 14-year-old into superheroing" Riri jeers. Harley is immediately on the defensive.

Meanwhile, Peter plays candy crush on his phone, completely ignoring the two in front of him while he loses yet again.

"Peter was 14 when he first put on the suit!" Peter looks up briefly before going back to his game when he realizes that they weren't actually calling for him.

"Peter has superpowers! He's not a good example" Riri tries to argue.

"What about those sidekicks then?" Harley says, unwilling to give her any leeway.

"They- your- it's different!" her voice going desperate, her eyes begging Harley to let it go.

"How?!" Harley ignores her quiet plea and instead pushes on.

"They're not my little brother!" explodes out of Riri's mouth.

Silence. Brief glorious silence.

"You think of me as a little brother?" Harley's voice is small, almost fragile in a way. Riri looks away in embarrassment before answering.

"We're all we've got you know? All alone in this stupid house with no one else but each other, of course, I think of you as a brother," she sits back down, unaware that she had even stood up, Harley quickly follows.

Peter puts his phone away before clapping his hands loudly. It echoes throughout the room, forcing the two other occupants to pay attention.

"Now that that's done with it's time to make your suits," Peter says with a bright smile. Riri sputters as Harley answers with his own grin. Peter takes a moment to observe them. Riri still looked weary and Harley's shoulders were far too tense.

"I'm not going to have his death on my conscience," Riri says determinedly. Peter looks at her in empathy.

"You know he's going to go out regardless right? It's better to have his back then let him run solo. Trust me, I know" the heaviness of his voice spoke of a story that Riri was begging to ask about but was unsure whether she should. Harley took that choice out of her hands by questioning Peter's meaning himself. He ignores Harley's question and stands up, leaving the room. Both Riri and Harley follow.

He comes to a stop in front of Riri's workshop. Riri unlocks it and they all file in. Peter turns to where her suit was hidden and pulls off the sheet covering it.

"We'll work on Riri's suit first before moving onto Harley's. Three heads are better than one and I refuse to have one of you killed because there was an easily preventable coding error or a life-saving invention that one of you has already invented absent from the suit. Final decisions of what stays and what goes, of course, go to the wearer of the suit as well as design" Both Riri and Harley nod after a moment of hesitation. Peter smiles at them, his hands moving to ruffle their hair.

They all settled around the suit, already bouncing around ideas.


	12. Chapter 12

"I'm sorry Ms. Parker, your biopsy came back positive for lung cancer," the woman on the other end of the phone line said. She sounded so sympathetic and sincere in her apology that May had the sudden need to just strangle her. What did she know? How could she even attempt to understand the pain that May was going through?

"I- how? I've never smoked a cigarette in my life" May's voice unfocused as she tried to do the mental gymnastics necessary to comprehend how her life had gone from bad to worse to shit.

"20 percent of people diagnosed with lung cancer have never even touched a cigarette. It is also that 20 percent that has the misfortune of being incurable most of the time" the doctor said like she was repeating something she had said over and over again. It gave May a flash of rage that she quickly squashed. She took a deep breath and once, twice, and four more times just for extra measure. With every exhale a part of her numbed.

"Please make an appointment at your nearest convenience, we will need to discuss your options" May nodded before remembering that the Doctor would be unable to see it. She choked out a thank you and hung up as soon as she was able to. She dazedly walked towards her couch before something that she had been determinedly ignoring caught her attention.

Peter's room. It had been months since she last had entered. Every time she did it felt like little pieces of her were abandoned and left behind in the room when she would inevitably leave. It had gotten so bad that she had been forced to board it off so that she didn't tempt herself.

But what did it matter now? Ben was dead, Peter was dead, and soon May would be too. The Parker curse would finally take her just as it had every other member of the family, married or blood they all fell. It was finally her turn and she was done trying to fight what had always been a losing battle.

She stood up and walked towards the door. She started to pull at the planks she had nailed in. It wouldn't budge but May refused to give up. She could have gone off to look for a hammer to pull the nails out with, but something inside of her wouldn't allow her to leave. It felt like she had to stay there until she succeeded or she would lose an opportunity that she could never get back. For hours she stood at the door banging, pulling, and scratching. Her hands were bloody and she had broken three nails in the course of three hours but she refused to stop. Her child was dead, what was a little pain when compared to the tidal wave of torture that sprung up at even the slightest reminder of Peter?

Finally, the door gave. May entered the room that still smelled like Peter, like her child. She walked in a few steps deeper and fell to her knees as a scream crawled up from her throat. Peter was dead, her baby was dead and she would never get to see him get his first girlfriend or boyfriend, would never get to send him off to college, he'd forever be stuck as a 16-year old that died too young and there was nothing she could do about it.

Eventually, the tears died down and May was left exhausted. Her head was bowed down to the floor as her hands clawed at her hair. She let go of the locks still clutched in her fingers and pushed herself up with shaky arms.

If she was going to die then she would be doing it on her terms. She walked out of the room and walked to the bathroom as if she was in a trance. She filled up the tub and started to take off her clothes. She then sat down into it and picked up her razer. Her hands ached but she ignored it. She started to shave her legs, starting at the very bottom where the hair first started, all the way to her arms and everything in between. She meticulously cleaned herself and after she was done she drained the tub. She refilled it and sat back down. She took her razer again and broke off the blade.

AaAaAaAaAaAaAaAa

Pepper sat alone in her daughter's room as Friday replayed the last recording of Morgan before she disappeared. Morgan was playing with her dolls as she pretended that she was a Queen that needed to execute a traitor to the crown. Pepper drank in the details of her daughter's face like she was on death row and it was her last meal. She barely blinked as the screen changed onto a different video. It showed Morgan disappearing in a flash of blue, never to be seen again. The video changed again, this time to Morgan singing and dancing in the living room. Her voice was scratchy and her tempo was off but to Pepper, it was the most beautiful sound in existence.

"Pepper, it's time for dinner" Happy voiced gently. Pepper looked up in surprise, unaware that Happy had even been inside the house. She shakes it off and instead goes back to looking at the screen. Happy sighs, his hand landing on her shoulder in an attempt to gently pull her off the floor. Pepper shrugs off his hand and goes back to ignoring him. Her focus solely on the most perfect little girl in existence.

"Pepper please, you need to eat," Happy pleads. Pepper can't hear him over the sound of her little girl's giggling. She can't feel him trying to shake sense into her. She wouldn't even want to if she could, her whole world narrowed down to one lost baby girl. Happy turns off the screen and suddenly it's as if everything is crashing down. Her breathing starts to quicken and her limbs flail around her as she looks around desperately for her baby.

"Morgan? Morgan where are you? I can't see you!" Where was her baby? Where was her baby? Where was her baby? Where was her baby? Where was her baby? Why couldn't she find her baby? Why couldn't she find her baby? Why couldn't she find her baby? Why couldn't she find her baby? Why couldn't she find her baby?

Happy is quick to switch the screen back on. As soon as the sound of her daughter's voice reaches her ears she stills. She turns around and faces the screen, once again hypnotized.

Happy rushes out of the room, his hands wiping away any stray tears that fall for the once-proud, strong woman, the fallen hero that was her husband, and the dead little girl that would never turn six.

AaAaAaAaAaAaAaAa

Gamora shoved her dagger down another alien's chest before moving onto the next. Her actions are methodical as she does the same to the next ten or so that come towards her to avenge their fallen comrades. It's by fifteenth that she starts to feel fatigued. By the thirtieth, she's slowed down significantly. 'Where are the rest of the Guardians?' she wonders tiredly. Unaware that they were trapped underground in a cave, completely unable to give back up in time.

Her arms ache and shake but she refuses to give up. She's lost count and she's so drained but she can't stop. She can't even escape because they have her surrounded. When one of them finally makes a fatal hit it's less of a surprise and more of a long time coming. She falls with the blow and spends her last thoughts hoping for the Guardians safely. She makes one last prayer for her sister who disappeared all those months ago.

'Hope she's okay'

AaAaAaAaAaAaAaAa

The shaking was getting worse and they had no way out. The door was barred by the rubble of a falling building that was only seconds away from collapsing around them. Ronnie had to keep Sharon safe. It was too late for her husbands, it was too late for Riri (her sweet, sweet child), but it wasn't too late for Sharon. Sharon sat curled up in her arms trembling as the world around them quaked with her. Ronnie lets her hands flow through Sharon's hair in an attempt to calm her down.

"Baby, sweetheart, I need you to listen to me okay? I'm gonna break that window and I need you to jump through it, even if the glass cuts you and everything hurts you need to jump through it. I'll be right behind you" she tries to reassure.

"Won't it be too far of a drop?" Sharon asks, her voice as nonstructural sound as the rest of the house.

"You'll be fine baby I promise," Ronnie soothes.

Ronnie picks up her phone and hurls it towards the window, shattering it instantly. She takes a second to thank god for cheap glass before hurrying Sharon out. She follows close behind steadying her daughter the minute it looks like she'll fall. It's during this that she hears a crash. She constantly pushes her daughter out the window and at the same moment is crushed under the rubble. She hears her daughter scream distantly.

Ronnie Williams closes her eyes one last time and never opens them again.

AaAaAaAaAaAaAaAa

Dear Harley, it's me again. I'm turning ten in a few weeks! Me and Mama are in California right now, it's so pretty Harls. I wish you were here, you were always wishing that you could leave Rose Hills so I know you'd just love it here! Mama's got a new boyfriend, his name's George and I know you'd just hate him. He's a total stick in the mud and he's really creepy. Mama says I'm just being stupid and that I should give him a chance cuz he's gonna be my papa real soon. She said the same thing about Jake, Ross, and Richard so I'm not really holding out that much hope. Mama says I'm being an idiot cuz I still think I'll see you again. But I know you're not dead. I know you're not dead and I'm gonna find you one day. It doesn't matter how long it'll take, I'm never gonna give up on you Harls.

I miss you. I wish you took me with you. Why didn't you take me with you? Was I bad? Did I do something wrong? I ask you when I find you and I won't take some bullshit excuse where you tell me that you didn't want to uproot me or some shit. God, you're not even here to tell me to watch my language or you'll wash my mouth with soap. Mama doesn't care as long as her boyfriend does care.

I know I was making jokes about George and stuff but he really freaks me out. I hope he dumps Mama soon, I don't like the look in his eye. You used to tell me that I should always listen to my gut and my gut tells me that George is bad News with a capital N.

I love you, Harley, I love you more than the sun and moon. I love you more than Mama and her boyfriend of the week. I love you more than I love my dolls and god knows you understand how much I love my dolls. I miss you and I promise you I'll find you soon,

Love your sister.


	13. Chapter 13

It had been a while since Tony had to deal with the bullshit that came with being the CEO of a company. He had hoped that he'd never have to deal with it again but could see now in hindsight that it was an unrealistic dream. Though he had never thought of this particular situation when he wondered what it would take for him to get back the position.

Stark Industries was the fastest-growing company in America and hopefully, it would continue in its success. Don't get Tony wrong! It was great that the company he had built with his own two hands was doing well, it's just that it was such a bore being back in charge. He hardly had any time to invent for god's sake.

This was why he sat in front of the person that was legally his eldest child by law and non legally his heart child. Nebula was perched on the very edge of the couch, looking ready for any unexpected attacks. Her eyes regularly flickering to the briefcase by his side in suspicion.

Adorable, Tony thought when he saw her eyes narrow into a glare for how long he was taking to start talking. Tony cleared his throat and started to explain why she was here.

"As you may know, you are technically my daughter by the laws of this world. You are also my eldest which means that you are the first to inherit the position of CEO should something happen to me," Tony paused to see how she was taking that tidbit of information. When he saw that she wasn't going to get violent and actually looked quite calm he continued.

"You are also like an actual daughter to me outside of officiality. This means that I trust you wholeheartedly and know without a shadow of a doubt that you would take care not only of the company but also of your siblings. I'm getting old Nebula and I just don't have it in me to continue as CEO. That is why I'd like you to take over instead," Tony then takes out a few papers he had been hiding in the briefcase. He laid them flat against the table and put a pen down next to the documents. Nebula picked them up and skimmed, she hummed a little when a particular sentence caught her attention but mostly stayed silent.

Anticipation rose in Tony's gut the longer it took for Nebula to say anything. It was a simple matter, all she had to do was sign the papers and he would be free, gloriously fr-

"No," Nebula's voice broke him out of his daydream.

"I'm sorry?" Tony asked, hoping against all hope that he was wrong and that his hopes had not been crushed without hesitation under his daughter's heel.

"You're forgiven," She answered with no small amount of amusement.

"No that's not- what do you mean no!" Tony shouted.

"I mean no. I will not be the new CEO. I am honored that you trust me enough with our only source of money but I'm not about to willingly subjugate myself to torture. I'd rather choke on a dishwasher I was attempting to eat while heavily influenced by drugs than go to one of those boring meetings where no one will agree on anything of importance and everyone simultaneously decides that you're an oblivious idiot attempting to play "above their station" despite all the evidence pointing to the contrary. I have a little more self-respect than that" Nebula finished with a shrug. On one hand Tony was a little proud because this meant that Nebula felt secure enough in her place in the family to decline, on the other hand, this meant that he had to continue to be CEO.

"But- but I need someone to take over," Tony whined. He was one step away from stomping his feet like a child with a tantrum but even he had enough self-control to refrain.

"I'm not the only child you have," Nebula said with an eye roll.

Oh, she was right. He had six children! Surely one of them had to want the position. One of them had to be at least a little power-hungry (or a bit of a masochist) to desire the spot. Okay, first things first, Vision.

Tony stood up quickly and started to pack up the papers back into the case. He stopped briefly to kiss Nebula on the cheek before speed walking out of the room. He goes to the hallway that housed Vision's room.

"Who am I? What am I? Am I even real?" is heard. Tony blinks a little in confusion and concern.

Tony walks into the room slowly. He sees Vision look out of a window dramatically as rain falls from the heavens casting a dark shadow on his features. Tony frowns in confusion. When did it start raining? He walks out and looks through a window in the hallway. The sun shines and there is not a cloud in the sky, he walks back into Vision's room and sees Vision still staring out the window. He then hears a curse and then a thump. He watches as Harley falls from the roof, a hose one hand and an umbrella in the other.

"Harley you had one job," Vision says with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. Tony just walks the fuck away. There was no way he was touching that with a ten-foot pole.

Screw it, Peter was technically the second oldest anyway. He makes his way towards Peter's room and hopes beyond all hope he won't catch him in a compromising situation that will heavily impact the way he thinks of him. Unfortunately, luck seemed to be against him because as soon as he enters his room he sees Peter holding a bottle of bleach and looking at it intently. This concerns Tony greatly.

"Hey bud, whatcha got there?" Tony asks gently, as though talking to a child.

"Bleach" Peter answers, still not looking up from the cleaning supplies in his hand.

"What are you gonna do with the bleach? Start some early spring cleaning?" Tony's starting to feel that if he doesn't tread really fucking lightly then he's going to witness something profoundly stupid happen.

"I'm gonna see if my healing factor is faster or if the bleach is, " Peter explains as he starts to open the bottle. Tony moves a few steps forward cautiously.

"I'm not sure that's a great idea bud," he tries to reason.

Peter finally looks up. He stares straight into Tony's eye and then just starts to fucking chug the bleach.

"Peter, no!"

AaAaAaAaAaAaAaAaAa

A few hours and a lot of vomiting later and Tony is looking down at Peter as the spiderling pouts because Tony "disrupted my totally valid scientific experiment". Tony's tempted to call bullshit but he's too tired to yell at Peter right now.

He had eventually asked every member of the family if they wanted to be CEO while Peter was unconscious and they had all declined. Vision had said that he was busy, Harley said that if he even attempted to give him the position then he'd put marijuana in the vents and watch as everyone slowly got high, and Riri said that she was not going to deal with the stress that came with the job. For god's sake, the only one even slightly interested was Morgan and she couldn't even take over until she was 15! This was such bullshit. Thankfully he had one last plan, one last person that he could persuade to take over.

"Peter, as I'm sure you know, I'm the CEO of Stark Industries. I will no longer be the CEO this coming month because you will be taking over" Peter opens his mouth to protest but Tony pushes on "You will be taking the job because if you don't I'll be very disappointed and tell the entire family why their brother is bedridden. I'm sure they'll all be ecstatic to know that you willingly drank bleach and then almost died," Peter's mouth closed with a snap.

"Furthermore, I will be taking away all of your electronics and your Spider-man suit," Tony continues, his voice growing smug. He knows damn well that he's won.

"You're blackmailing me!" Peter's voice squeaks loudly.

"And no one will believe you," Tony says with a devilish smirk.


	14. Chapter 14

Bruce growled as he was once again blocked from being able to hack into Stark Industries. This was ridiculous. At this point, he was tempted to just ask Barbra to do it. Unfortunately for his sanity, he would not get the chance to do so yet because Barbra was busy with a much more life-threatening case.

Bruce was sure that Stark Industries was funding Ironman and his crew. He was also sure, though less, that Ironman's identity was actually that of Tony Stark, the creator, and CEO of the company. It was all speculation at this point and couldn't be backed up at all because every time he attempted to he was blocked. It was such bullshit and Bruce was just about getting to the point where he was contemplating just going up to Stark and bitched slapping him.

He told Dick of his suspicions and was told that he was just jealous and needed to accept that sometimes there would be people with better inventions and ideas. Jason said much the same, as did Tim and Alfred. The only one that listened to him was Damian, and he looked like he was just humoring him! Were they right and he was just getting too old and paranoid? No, no it couldn't be. He refused. He would not stop until he proved them all wrong, even if it was the last thing that he did!

"Master Bruce, might I suggest taking a nap? It's been six days since your last rest and I dare say that it shows," Alfred said, appearing out of nowhere. Bruce jumped up and spun around, his heart beating like a jackrabbit as he tried to make sense of the words coming out of Alfred's mouth. It took him a full minute to comprehend and by then Bruce figured that Alfred was probably right.

"I always am Master Bruce," Alfred said primly. Bruce nodded before realizing that he hadn't said that out loud. Was Alfred a mind reader? Was that why he always knew what to do?

The sudden "realization" caused him to try to analyze every instance of evidence that might prove that Alfred was indeed a mind reader.

Meanwhile, Alfred shook his head in exasperation. He took out a needle and stabbed Bruce with it. Not a second later Bruce dropped. Thankfully Alfred was able to catch him before he hit the floor, though the sound his back made at the sudden weight in his arms caused was slightly alarming.

"I'm not as young as I once was you know. I can't just keep doing this whenever you decide that personal health and hygiene is for the weak" Alfred grunted to the unconscious body as he dragged Bruce out of the cave and into the Manner.

After much struggling and a few more concerning sounds that came from his aging body, Alfred finally managed to get Bruce to bed. A miracle really.

He walked out of the room and made his way to the kitchen. It was almost time for supper and god knew how much food growing vigilantes put away before their almost insatiable hunger was finally satisfied by the sacrifices offered in the form of food. Just as he was about to enter the room though he heard whispering.

"So do you think he bought it?"

"I've never seen father so irritated"

"Better get used to it kid cuz we're about to see it more way more often"

"Aw, family bonding"

"Yeah, over the utter instability we're about to cause our father figure's mental state"

"Hey, he ain't my father figure!"

"That's such bullshit and you know it"

"Tim"

"You wanna go replacement?"

"Jason"

"Let them fight Grayson, it is of no consequence to us"

"Yeah listen to the demon brat. This isn't any of your business so maybe butt out"

"It's my business as soon as my little brothers are involved. And would you look at that, two of them are"

"Fuck off goldie"

"Jason, please. We were all having so much fun too"

"Guess replacement shouldn't have opened his big stupid mouth then huh"

"My mouth's big and stupid? Guess you haven't looked into the mirror recently"

And from there it just dissolved into juvenile insults. Alfred let his head fall into his hands for a moment before straightening again. He walked into the room and waited until they saw him. When only Damian noticed him he knew that the rest of them were far too deep into their no doubt "intellectual" debate on who was superior. He cleared his throat until they were all quiet.

"Now if you're all quite finished, dinner will be ready at seven. Please spend the time you have until then getting ready" when all the boys nodded he moved out of the way until only Damian was left.

"Where is Master Duke? Why is he not with the rest of you?" Alfred asked. He had noticed that besides Master Dick, Master Damian was closest to Master Duke. The fact that Master Duke was not with them made warning bells ring in his head.

"He thought the idea was stupid and would only get us in trouble so he has elected to stay out of the matter entirely" Damian stated.

"And you do not think that to be the case?" Alfred asked in genuine curiosity. After all, he had thought Damian would be the first person to opt-out if not give up the jig immediately by telling Master Bruce.

"I have no delusions on how utterly foolish this entire plan is. However, Duke has informed me that it is time for me to mend some bridges. There is no loss of love between me and Drake, but I do understand that in order to move forward in a professional manner I must swallow my pride and apologize. Unfortunately, I do not know of a way to say as such in a way that he will believe me. If I simply was to express my regret in my past actions then he would think that I was trying to trick him and become even more suspicious of my actions. My only choice is to show him through actions"

"And yet you constantly berate and belittle him still," Alfred said without judgment.

"I- I do not understand?"

"Master Damian, you can not simply try to apologize but continue to do as you have always done. This is a good first step but you must also be prepared to be kinder and more thoughtful in your handling of your elder brother"

Damian looked like he was about to deny doing such but instead grew a thoughtful expression. He nodded before leaving the room. Alfred sighed, shaking his head at the family he had taken care of for years. He loved them dearly but sometimes it was as though they were being purposely obtuse.


End file.
